Updates

Tag: Congress

This is a common White House refrain that has been extensively discussed and fact-checked. See here, here, and here, and see also an earlier claim with more specific historical references.

Yet as even The Washington Post has reported, the Senate is conducting the slowest confirmation process in American history.
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But it is historic in the level of obstruction that is denying the will of the American people who elected a new administration and expect that administration to be able to staff the departments.

What is interesting is, if you think about the forming of our country in that debate–again, the Constitutional Convention was public, open, transparent–issues were debated.
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In fact, through the process, the very Constitutional Convention of this country–perhaps some of the biggest issues of humanity–were debated in an open forum. We have records of those discussions, records of those deliberations. Everything from the representation that each State should have to issues as profound as slavery were right there, out in the open.

There is, right outside this Chamber, a picture of the authors of the Connecticut Compromise, two of the Connecticut delegates to the Constitutional Convention.
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The idea of the House is that it is supposed to respond, perhaps, more quickly to the temporary passions of the public, which is ironic, given that the passion of the public today is in deep opposition to this piece of legislation.
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This place [the Senate] is supposed to be able to step back and look at the long term and look at the long view.

As of now, there will not be a single Democratic amendment adopted in the Finance Committee. When the legislation [the Affordable Care Act] went to the floor, the Senate spent 25 consecutive legislative days on healthcare reform–the second longest consecutive session in history. That is how the legislative process ought to look: The committees do the hard work in the open, gather input from the American people, have a chance–Democrats and Republicans–to work together.

In that year [2009], in the HELP Committee–Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee–there were 47 hearings, roundtables, and walkthroughs, a markup that went for more than a month–the longest markup in that committee in the history of the United States of America; a markup that considered over 300 amendments; a markup with, in fact, a group of Senators, bipartisan, sitting around the table with the television cameras rolling while they debated those amendments and voted on those amendments [to the Affordable Care Act].

I just have to say, this is the least transparent process for a major piece of legislation I have seen in my 24 years in the Senate. Former Senate Historian Don Ritchie said that you have to look back before World War I to find another example of such a secret, partisan process for passing a major bill. The Senate healthcare bill in fact is being written behind closed doors.

In 2009 and 2010, the Finance Committee held 53 hearings, meetings, negotiations, and walkthroughs on the Affordable Care Act. That committee marked up the Affordable Care Act for 8 days. That was the longest markup in 22 years, and adopted during that process were over 10 Republican amendments. When the bill was considered on the Senate floor, the Senate spent 25 consecutive days in session on health reform–the second longest session in history.

This is our first Cabinet meeting with the entire Cabinet present. The confirmation process has been record-setting long — and I mean record-setting long — with some of the finest people in our country being delayed and delayed and delayed.